Read on for my comprehensive wrap-up/opinion of this week's video gaming announcements, from E3 2006...

I think that it's unwise for me to let this week pass without making any comment on the current state of the Video Gaming Industry.  After all, E3 2006 has come and gone, and people are excited about various things to do with various games.  Both players in the field who have not yet released their current generation of consoles have played their cards on the table, and it seems to be fairly obvious to most people as to how the new generation of consoles is going to play out.

So, firstly, what is blatantly obvious:

Sony and Microsoft will be the two companies competing, much as they are today, on the terms of their machine's power.  Also, due to the similarities in design of both machines, it will be fair to say that most of the games wil be fairly simlar (i.e. Identical ports for both systems).  I also believe that the marketing campaign between both systems will follow the same tracks:

• Graphics, Power
  
• And by derivation from that, First Person Shooters (I would argue that no other type of game is so contingent on graphical power)

So, given that these two systems are competing on the same ground, there will be certain features that are not common to both consoles, and this is what will draw people to either console.  I believe that these will be the key drawing points:

• Exclusive Franchises
• Outside-of-Game features (e.g. Extra XBox live features, PS3's Linux Distro, etc)
• Backwards-compatability with old consoles
  
• Cost

It's a fact of the matter that different people want to play different types of games - and the differences between the two consoles will be fairly apparrent in this.  To do with franchises, it seems to be quite uncertain as to who will be buying what - for example: GTA players will want to buy into the XBOX 360, even though they have a sizable collection of PS2 games.

I personally believe that, at first, Backwards Compatability will have very little drawing power for this generation of consoles - back to the GTA analogy: will people buy a PS3 simply to play their old PS2 games? I personally think not: people will hold onto their older consoles so that they can play their old games.

So, as I said before, Microsoft and Sony will be directly competing in this generation of consoles.  So, where does Nintendo fit into this?

Personally, I feel that Nintendo will have two key markets (outside of the "MUST BUY NINTENDO!!!"-fanboy market) in this generation of consoles.  The first being the people who they have said that they are marketing to with Wii: "Non-core" gamers.  The Wii will reach that market, but, in my opinion, not initially: the non-core gamers will be attracted through the core gamers: in other words, people will see members of their family playing the games, and become interested - the simple games being the best for this purpose.

However, I think that the Wii's best opportunity exists with a simple truth: Wii is different from the other systems.  The games developed for it will be different to those on 360 and PS3.  The best way to attract the core gamers will be exactly what Microsoft (amazingly) say it will be: The Wii will be the second choice of many gamers, and as such, will attract both PS3 and 360 Gamers.  Based on this, I think that Nintendo will get a sizable market share - quite possibly more than both of the other consoles.

The final point that's worth making is how weak Sony have looked over the E3 Week.  The first one is the cost of the PS3.  I understand that the amount of new and untested technology in the machine makes it cost that much.  In fact, I reckon Sony would probably have been able to get away with charging that much, provided they launched first.  It seems highly likely that they will not launch first, more likely last, and will be fighting an uphill battle to charge that much for a system.

Also, is their new controller, with "Revolutionary Tilt Sensivitiy".  I think that Sony definitely have a winner for driving games, provided the new controller is sensitive enough... But I think (and everyone else agrees) that Sony have ripped off Nintendo's feature, and haven't done a good job with it - why's that?

They're missing the point.  The whole idea of the Wii controller was to simplify the controller.  Instead, they've produced... wait for it... a standard controller, that, due to its added features, is more complex than the previous one!  Who would have thought?!?!?!!

Sony have had their two generations on top (about as long as anyone can seem to last during in this industry. See: Atari 2600-5200, SNES-N64 etc), and seem to be a spent force when compared with Nintendo...

This is a turning point of the games industry, one that hasn't been seen since 1996 - who's going to come out on top? It's a hard choice to make, but it definitely won't be Sony.

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